This interesting study investigates the vulnerability of the Greenland ice sheet to climate warming. Specifically, the article addresses what it takes to make the Greenland ice sheet disappear—an event that would cause several metres of sea-level rise. The authors show that a tipping-point behaviour can be identified in their model, demonstrating that once a threshold has been crossed, Greenland becomes almost completely ice-free.

The manuscript investigates the future stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) exploring how ice-sheet models may be initialised in a way that incorporates present-day satellite observations of ice mass loss. The study shows that with present-day ocean water temperatures large parts of WAIS will deglaciate, with major implications for global sea levels, particularly in Europe. Model simulations also show that current ocean-driven melting trends will destabilize the Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers over the next several centuries even in the absence of further change, leading to rapid ice loss.